Vol. 05 / 2026The IndexUpdated May 2026
№ 00 — The Expat Cost Index

The 25 cheapest cities for expats in 2026.

Ranked by basket plus expat infrastructure: 12 cost line items combined with English speaking density, visa accessibility, and inbound community depth, May 2026. Lisbon tops the index at a 9.2 expat score; George Town closes the top 25 at 7.0.

9.2
Top expat score
Lisbon, PortugalTop expat city, 2026
№ 01 — The Top Three

The three cheapest expat cities of 2026.

Ranked one through three on combined cost and expat infrastructure. The arithmetic, the why, and the local context.

01
9.2expat score
Portugal · Western Europe · basket 2,150 dollars

Lisbon, Portugal

Lisbon takes the cheapest expat city of 2026 at a 9.2 expat score on a 2,150 dollar monthly basket combined with the deepest expat infrastructure of any sub 2,500 dollar Western European capital. The English speaking density runs at 65 to 78 percent across Lisbon central, the highest of any Iberian capital and 18 to 22 points above Madrid. The inbound expat community runs at 220,000 plus residents (40 percent of the central Lisbon municipal population), with the United States, Brazilian, French, and British nationality clusters anchoring the Principe Real, Estrela, Chiado, and Alfama neighborhoods.

The Lisbon visa stack runs the deepest of any Iberian or Mediterranean capital. The D7 passive income visa runs at the 870 dollar a month threshold for the qualifying retiree (the threshold tracks the Portuguese minimum wage at 100 percent, plus 50 percent for spouse and 30 percent per dependent). The digital nomad visa runs at the 3,480 dollar a month gross income threshold for the qualifying remote worker. The Portuguese golden visa runs at the 280,000 to 500,000 dollar fund investment tier (the property purchase pathway closed in October 2023). The IFICI tax regime runs at a 20 percent flat rate on Portuguese source qualifying income for the inbound resident through 2034, replacing the old NHR regime that closed in March 2024.

The healthcare stack runs the Portuguese SNS for the legal resident at the 4.7 dollar a primary care visit and the 9.4 dollar a specialist consultation tier, plus a private bridge at 65 to 120 dollars a month through providers like Medis or Multicare for the structural specialist wait reduction. SafetyWing Nomad Plus covers the inbound first six months at 56 to 65 dollars a month for the under 40 single. The full Lisbon city profile walks the neighborhood, healthcare, and visa stack; the Lisbon vs Barcelona comparison and the Lisbon vs Madrid comparison sit the expat pick against the regional alternatives. Wise handles the inbound USD to EUR conversion at within 0.4 percent of mid market.

02
9.0expat score
Mexico · Latin America · basket 1,195 dollars

Mexico City, Mexico

Mexico City takes second at a 9.0 expat score on a 1,195 dollar monthly basket combined with the deepest North American adjacent expat infrastructure outside the European cluster. The English speaking density runs at 38 to 52 percent across Roma Norte, Condesa, and Polanco; at the inbound expat community tier the density runs at 65 to 78 percent inside the established United States, Canadian, and European clusters. The inbound expat community runs at 750,000 plus United States nationals across Mexico (the largest American expat community globally), with Mexico City at the 180,000 to 220,000 plus tier inside the central districts.

The Mexican visa stack runs the temporary resident visa at the 3,250 dollar a month income threshold or the 54,000 dollar account balance threshold for the qualifying applicant, with the four year path to permanent residency at the financial solvency tier or the family unity tier. The personal income tax runs 1.92 to 35 percent progressive on local source income; the foreign source income for the qualifying digital nomad on the temporary residency under 183 days remains structurally light at the foreign tax authority residency tier. The cultural infrastructure density runs at 158 museums (third worldwide after London and Paris), 280 plus theaters and concert halls, and the structural restaurant density at the eight Michelin starred establishment tier inside Polanco and Condesa.

The healthcare stack runs the Mexican private hospital network at the Hospital Angeles, ABC Medical Center, and Medica Sur tier (the structural primary care wait under 60 minutes and the specialist referral under 7 days at the private tier; the public IMSS tier runs the structural 14 to 42 day primary care wait). SafetyWing covers the inbound first six months at 56 dollars a month. The trade off against Lisbon (number 1) is the elevated Mexican personal income tax ceiling at 35 percent against the Portuguese IFICI 20 percent flat rate, the elevated Mexico City traffic and air quality load (AQI runs 80 to 165 across the dry season at November to April), and the structural neighborhood specific safety variance that the central expat tier (Roma Norte, Condesa, Polanco) does not carry but the broader municipal area does. The full Mexico City profile walks the neighborhood and visa stack.

03
8.9expat score
Thailand · Southeast Asia · basket 920 dollars

Chiang Mai, Thailand

Chiang Mai takes third at an 8.9 expat score on a 920 dollar monthly basket combined with the deepest digital nomad infrastructure of any sub 1,000 dollar Asian city. The English speaking density runs at 65 to 80 percent across the Nimmanhaemin, Old City, and Santitham expat tiers, the highest of any Thai city outside Bangkok central. The inbound expat community runs at 80,000 to 140,000 residents across Chiang Mai province (the figure varies by season; the structural tourist plus nomad inflow runs at 28,000 plus monthly visitors during the December to February high season), with the United States, German, and Australian nationality clusters anchoring the Nimmanhaemin coffee shop and coworking corridor.

The Thai visa stack runs four pathways for the long stay inbound. The Thailand Privilege Card runs the 25,000 to 100,000 dollar one off fee for the five to twenty year residency window. The DTV visa (Destination Thailand Visa) runs the 500,000 baht (14,000 dollar) financial solvency threshold for the five year multi entry digital nomad pathway introduced in July 2024. The retirement visa (O A) runs the 65,000 baht (1,820 dollar) a month income or the 800,000 baht (22,400 dollar) account balance threshold for the over 50 applicant. The standard tourist visa runs 60 days plus a 30 day extension at the immigration office, which the Chiang Mai immigration office on the Mae Hia road processes within 90 to 180 minutes of the Monday to Friday window.

The healthcare stack runs the Thai private hospital network at the Bangkok Hospital Chiang Mai, the Chiangmai Ram Hospital, and the McCormick Hospital tier (the structural specialist consultation runs at 28 to 56 dollars and the standard chest X ray at 14 dollars at the private tier). SafetyWing covers the Chiang Mai first six months at 56 dollars a month for the under 40 single. The trade off against Mexico City (number 2) is the structural seasonal air quality load (Chiang Mai AQI runs 180 to 350 across the burning season at March to early May, the deepest seasonal variance of any city in the top 25) and the thinner direct international flight access against the Bangkok hub. The full Chiang Mai city profile walks the neighborhood and visa stack.

№ 02 — The Index

The 25 cheapest expat cities, ranked.

Full ranked table of the 25 cheapest expat cities of 2026 by combined cost and expat infrastructure. Click the city name for the full profile.

No
City
Country
Basket
English %
Top tax
Score
01
Lisbon
Portugal
$2,150
78%
20%
9.2
02
Mexico City
Mexico
$1,195
52%
35%
9.0
03
Chiang Mai
Thailand
$920
80%
35%
8.9
04
Medellin
Colombia
$1,180
38%
39%
8.8
05
Porto
Portugal
$1,820
68%
20%
8.7
06
Penang
Malaysia
$1,125
85%
30%
8.6
07
Valencia
Spain
$1,720
52%
47%
8.5
08
Kuala Lumpur
Malaysia
$1,090
88%
30%
8.4
09
Ubud, Bali
Indonesia
$895
72%
35%
8.3
10
Tbilisi
Georgia
$1,445
55%
20%
8.2
11
Budapest
Hungary
$1,420
58%
15%
8.1
12
Belgrade
Serbia
$1,145
58%
23%
8.0
13
Cape Town
South Africa
$1,420
95%
45%
7.9
14
Krakow
Poland
$1,325
62%
32%
7.8
15
Buenos Aires
Argentina
$1,185
45%
35%
7.7
16
Sofia
Bulgaria
$1,185
56%
10%
7.6
17
Bucharest
Romania
$1,255
52%
10%
7.5
18
Da Nang
Vietnam
$780
42%
35%
7.4
19
Hanoi
Vietnam
$720
38%
35%
7.4
20
Cuenca
Ecuador
$1,095
38%
35%
7.3
21
Granada
Nicaragua
$985
42%
30%
7.2
22
Antigua
Guatemala
$1,085
45%
31%
7.1
23
George Town
Malaysia
$1,495
85%
30%
7.1
24
Riga
Latvia
$1,485
62%
20%
7.0
25
Vilnius
Lithuania
$1,420
60%
20%
7.0

The 2026 expat ranking carries one structural shift against the 2025 edition. Penang has lifted from a number 9 ranking in 2024 and number 7 in 2025 to the number 6 slot in 2026 against the Malaysian MM2H program reopening at the September 2024 reform that lowered the financial threshold to the 600,000 ringgit (135,000 dollar) liquid asset tier and the 30,000 ringgit (6,750 dollar) a month income threshold for the participant aged 35 to 49, plus the 50,000 ringgit (11,250 dollar) a month threshold for the 50 plus tier. Cape Town has dropped from a number 7 ranking in 2024 to number 13 in 2026 on the structural rand depreciation that lifted the dollar denominated basket 12 percent against the 2024 baseline plus the elevated load shedding load that the 2024 to 2025 winter window carried.

The full expat ranking carries six geographies forward at the top quartile: the Iberian and Western European cluster at three (Lisbon, Porto, Valencia), the Latin American cluster at six (Mexico City, Medellin, Buenos Aires, Cuenca, Granada, Antigua), the Southeast Asian cluster at six (Chiang Mai, Penang, Kuala Lumpur, Ubud Bali, Da Nang, Hanoi, George Town), the Eastern European cluster at six (Tbilisi, Budapest, Belgrade, Krakow, Sofia, Bucharest), the African coastal cluster at one (Cape Town), and the Baltic cluster at two (Riga, Vilnius). The expat score gradient runs from the 9.2 top score (Lisbon) to the 7.0 25th score (Vilnius), a structural 31 percent compression over the 25 city expat band.

For the regional tier breakdowns, the cheapest cities to live ranking ranks the global field on absolute basket, the cheapest cities in Europe ranking ranks the European sub set, and the cheapest cities in Asia ranking ranks the Asian sub set. The best value cities ranking reweights against the everycity quality index for a quality adjusted read; the digital nomad cities ranking applies the internet speed and coworking density filter on top of the cost line; the lowest tax cities ranking applies the tax filter for the resident at the long stay tier.

№ 03 — Honorable Mentions

Five just outside the expat top 25.

Cities that miss the cut by 0.1 to 0.4 points, with structural reasons we still recommend the look.

Madrid, Spain

Iberia · ranked 28 · 6.7 expat score

Madrid sits at 28 on a 2,100 dollar basket against a 52 percent English speaking density at the central expat tier. The trade off against Lisbon (number 1) is the 950 dollar a month basket premium and the 47 percent personal income tax ceiling against the Portuguese IFICI 20 percent flat rate. The Spanish digital nomad visa runs at the 2,520 euro a month gross income threshold for the qualifying inbound; the full Madrid city profile walks the visa stack.

Basket$2,100
English52%
Tax47%

Barcelona, Spain

Iberia · ranked 30 · 6.5 expat score

Barcelona sits at 30 on a 2,250 dollar basket. The trade off against the Madrid pick (number 28) is the structurally tighter housing market at the Eixample, Gracia, and Born expat tiers (28 percent rent lift since 2020 against the Madrid 22 percent equivalent) plus the regional Catalan independence political risk. The English speaking density runs at 48 percent across the central expat tier.

Basket$2,250
English48%
Tax50%

Tallinn, Estonia

Baltic · ranked 26 · 6.9 expat score

Tallinn sits at 26 on a 1,485 dollar basket against a 68 percent English speaking density at the central expat tier (the highest of any non Western EU capital). The structural mention is for the Estonian e residency, the Estonian Startup Visa at the 50,000 euro investment threshold, and the Estonian Digital Nomad Visa at the 4,500 euro a month gross income threshold for the qualifying applicant.

Basket$1,485
English68%
Tax20%

Sevilla, Spain

Andalusia · ranked 29 · 6.6 expat score

Sevilla sits at 29 on a 1,820 dollar basket. The structural mention is for the Andalusian climate (320 sunny days a year, the deepest Spanish solar exposure outside Almeria), the Spanish digital nomad visa at the 2,520 euro threshold, and the structurally cheaper rent line against Madrid and Barcelona at the Triana, Macarena, and Casco Antiguo central expat tiers.

Basket$1,820
English42%
Tax47%

Tirana, Albania

Balkans · ranked 27 · 6.8 expat score

Tirana sits at 27 on a 1,055 dollar basket against a 52 percent English speaking density at the Blloku and Pazari i Ri central expat tier. The structural mention is for the 365 day visa free window for United States, EU, UK, Canadian, and Australian passport holders (the longest visa free window of any European country) and the 13 to 23 percent progressive personal income tax band on local source income.

Basket$1,055
English52%
Tax23%
№ 04 — How We Scored

The methodology, in full.

A transparent walk of the expat score, the data sources, and the editorial decisions behind the 2026 cheapest expat cities ranking.

The score

Cost plus expat infrastructure.

The expat score is a weighted blend of the 12 line item monthly basket (40 percent weight), the English speaking density at the central expat tier as measured by the EF English Proficiency Index 2025 plus the local Numbeo English exposure read (20 percent), the inbound visa accessibility score at the 1 to 10 scale weighted to the long stay (one to five year) pathway availability (20 percent), and the inbound expat community depth measured by the InterNations 2025 expat survey plus the local foreign resident population census (20 percent). Normalized to a 1 to 10 scale across the global ranked field.

Data sources

Numbeo, Mercer, EF, InterNations.

The cost basket primary source is the Numbeo crowdsourced cost of living database at the May 2026 update; the English speaking density pulls from the EF English Proficiency Index 2025 plus the Numbeo central tier exposure read. The visa accessibility score pulls from the Henley Passport Index 2025 plus the local immigration authority published thresholds. The expat community depth pulls from the InterNations Expat Insider 2025 plus the OECD migrant stock 2025 read. We exclude cities with fewer than 80 Numbeo respondents in the trailing 18 month window.

What we exclude

Family fit, healthcare, climate.

The expat score does not weight the family or solo female fit, the healthcare quality, or the climate axis. Those filters run through the parallel rankings: the safest cities for families ranking, the safest cities for women ranking, the healthcare cities ranking, and the best climate cities ranking. The relocation score tool bundles the expat axes plus the four parallel filter axes into a single 1 to 100 fit score for the inbound relocator.

What we include

Editorial verdict on quality.

Every city in the index is also scored on the everycity 10 point index that weights cost, safety, healthcare, weather, jobs, and ten more axes. We exclude any city scoring below 5.0 on the broader index even where the expat score is the strongest in the world. The full methodology walks the index weighting in full. The best value cities ranking takes the basket and the index without the expat infrastructure overlay.

One editorial note on the expat infrastructure axis. The English speaking density figure is the central expat tier exposure (Lisbon Principe Real, Mexico City Roma Norte, Chiang Mai Nimmanhaemin, etc.) rather than the broader municipal average, because the inbound relocator typically lives, eats, and transacts inside the central expat cluster rather than the broader local market. The municipal average runs 18 to 38 points below the central expat tier across the top 25, with the gap widest in Mexico City, Hanoi, and Da Nang and the gap narrowest in Lisbon, Penang, and Cape Town where the structural English exposure runs deeper across the broader local population.

One note on the visa accessibility axis. The score weights the long stay pathway (one to five year residency permit) availability rather than the tourist visa or the visa run loop tolerance. Cities with formal digital nomad visas (Lisbon, Tbilisi, Belgrade, Madrid, Tallinn) run a structural advantage; cities running the visa run loop (Bali, Bangkok, Mexico City at the 180 day threshold) score lower on this axis even where the basket is the lowest in the field. The Vietnamese pair (Hanoi, Da Nang) score lower on the visa axis at the moment because the formal nomad visa pathway remains in pilot through 2025 to 2026; we expect the score to lift two to three places by the 2027 update if the formal pathway opens.

One note on the expat community depth axis. The score weights the structural community size (50,000 plus inbound residents at the central tier) rather than the seasonal tourist plus nomad inflow. Cities with established multi decade expat communities (Lisbon, Mexico City, Cape Town, Penang, Chiang Mai) score higher than cities with younger nomad clusters (Tbilisi, Belgrade, Da Nang) where the community depth is structurally thinner at the over 24 month residency tier. The trade off for the inbound relocator weighing the established community against the emerging cluster is the structural cost of the established community (rent has lifted at the established tier in line with the foreign demand) against the cultural integration friction at the emerging cluster (where the local language barrier is structurally deeper).

For the relocator running a five to ten year horizon at any of the expat top 25, the structural recommendation is to test the city on a 60 to 90 day stay before the formal residency commitment, to maintain a foreign currency core income stream above the local median by a 2 to 8 multiple, and to structure the residency permit through the formal long stay visa rather than the visa run loop. The relocation checklist walks the operational steps inside a 60 day window; the finding an apartment abroad guide walks the negotiation pattern and the deposit norms across the top 25.

The structural patterns inside the 2026 expat ranking are worth a paragraph on their own. The Iberian top tier (Lisbon, Porto, Valencia) leads the Western European expat field on the climate plus tax stack advantage, with the IFICI tax regime and the Spanish digital nomad visa anchoring the long stay pathway. The Latin American cluster (Mexico City, Medellin, Buenos Aires, Cuenca, Granada, Antigua) leads the Western Hemisphere expat field on the cost advantage plus the structural United States and Canadian community depth. The Southeast Asian cluster (Chiang Mai, Penang, Kuala Lumpur, Ubud Bali, Da Nang, Hanoi, George Town) leads the global expat field on the absolute basket advantage at the 720 to 1,495 dollar band, with the structural caveat that the visa accessibility runs uneven across the cluster.

For the parallel filters: the safest cities ranking, the remote work cities ranking, the digital nomad cities ranking, the retirement cities ranking, and the family friendly cities ranking. For the comparison view, the Lisbon vs Barcelona, the Lisbon vs Madrid, the Mexico City vs Medellin, and the Bangkok vs Bali walks of the same basket. For the affiliate stack: Wise handles the inbound transfer, SafetyWing covers the first six months on the ground, and Booking.com bridges the long stay accommodation gap before the lease starts.

One final note on the relocator selection between the expat top five. Lisbon (number 1) suits the qualifying retiree on the D7 visa or the qualifying remote worker on the digital nomad visa, with the structural English speaking density at 78 percent and the deepest established expat community of any sub 2,500 dollar Western European capital. Mexico City (number 2) suits the United States or Canadian inbound on the temporary resident visa with the structural geographic adjacency to the home country plus the deepest cultural infrastructure density of any city in the Western Hemisphere top tier. Chiang Mai (number 3) suits the digital nomad on the Thai DTV visa at the 14,000 dollar financial solvency threshold with the structural Nimmanhaemin coffee shop and coworking corridor anchoring the inbound community. Medellin (number 4) suits the Western remote worker on the Colombian digital nomad visa at the 880 dollar a month income threshold. Porto (number 5) suits the inbound pursuing the structural cost advantage against the Lisbon equivalent at the 1,820 dollar basket against 2,150 dollars.

For the expat relocator on the family axis, the expat top 25 reads with three structural differentials. The Western European Iberian cluster (Lisbon, Porto, Valencia, Madrid) delivers the universal SNS or Spanish public healthcare plus the international school selection at the 18,000 to 28,000 dollar tuition tier. The Latin American cluster (Mexico City, Medellin, Buenos Aires, Cuenca, Granada, Antigua) delivers the structural cost compression on the family of four basket plus the structural geographic adjacency to the United States and Canadian home market. The Southeast Asian cluster (Chiang Mai, Penang, Kuala Lumpur, Ubud Bali, Da Nang, Hanoi, George Town) delivers the absolute basket advantage plus the structural English speaking density at the central expat tier (88 percent Kuala Lumpur, 85 percent Penang, 80 percent Chiang Mai).

For the inbound expat running the long term integration axis, the expat top 25 reads with one more structural differential. The Iberian cluster (Lisbon, Porto, Valencia, Madrid) plus the Eastern European EU cluster (Tbilisi at the geographic edge, Budapest, Krakow, Sofia, Bucharest, Riga, Vilnius, Tallinn) delivers the structural pathway to permanent residency at five years on the qualifying long stay visa plus the citizenship pathway at ten years. The Latin American cluster (Mexico City, Medellin, Buenos Aires, Cuenca, Granada, Antigua) delivers the structural temporary to permanent residency pathway at four years on the Mexican model or the structural Argentine, Colombian, and Ecuadorian equivalents. The Southeast Asian cluster runs the structural caveat that several countries (Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam) do not deliver a clear citizenship pathway for the long stay inbound; the relocator on the long term horizon should weight the citizenship axis if the inbound destination commitment runs above ten years.

One last note on the affiliate stack across the expat top 25. Wise handles the inbound transfer at within 0.4 percent of mid market across the EUR, MXN, THB, COP, IDR, MYR, GEL, HUF, RSD, PLN, BGN, RON, VND, ARS, INR, RUB, EGP, KZT, UZS, GHS, KES, NGN, ZAR, BRL, CLP, PEN, UYU, PYG, XOF, MAD, TND, CFA, AED, SAR, ILS, TRY, JPY, KRW, TWD, HKD, SGD, AUD, NZD, CHF, SEK, NOK, DKK, ISK, GBP, USD currency pair set against the local bank cross rate of 1.4 to 3.8 percent. SafetyWing Nomad Plus covers the inbound first six months at 56 to 65 dollars a month for the under 40 single across the entire expat top 25. Booking.com bridges the long stay accommodation gap before the lease starts with the structural 28 night stay tier at 1,180 to 2,840 dollars across the expat top 25 cities, against the foreign aggregator at the Airbnb equivalent that typically runs 35 to 80 percent above the local long term rental.

№ 05 — Related Reading

Other rankings

City profiles

Comparisons

Sources, May 2026. Numbeo cost of living index May 2026 · Mercer Cost of Living Survey 2026 · OECD Better Life Index 2025 · World Bank Open Data 2025 · Speedtest Global Index April 2026 · EIU Safe Cities Index 2025 · Numbeo Crime Index May 2026 · Womens Danger Index 2025 · Global Peace Index 2025 · the relevant national tax authorities for headline rates · Glassdoor and Numbeo for salary medians. First published May 9, 2026. Last updated May 9, 2026.